The Rachel Zoe Project Goes Postal in Season Two

Tonight, the second season of the Rachel Zoe Project premieres on Bravo. This season, Rachel’s business has grown, as evidenced by her fancy new bi-level studio, where she can hopefully keep her gowns and shoes safe from freak Los Angeles roof leaks that might ruin the dresses and the world as she knows it. Also, she can keep her office supplies hidden upstairs, for when the Famous People come in for fittings. If they see desks, they might turn to stone, you know.

Tonight, Zoe rushes to find Golden Globe outfits for Anne Hathaway, Cameron Diaz, Eva Mendes, Demi Moore, and Debra Messing. She looks as if she might collapse at any moment and require the aid of emergency medical crews, so nervous is she that the dresses she wants won’t arrive in the mail on time. In fact, the episode seems to be more about the downfalls of the world’s various shipping services than about picking out clothes for people. A Dior dress winds up at Chanel. How could this happen? Well, why does Heidi Montag have a singing career? Devoted assistant Taylor spends many angry minutes (hours?) on the phone, trying to sort through the situation. Not to spoil the plotline or anything, but the gown arrives, Eva Mendes doesn’t have to walk the carpet naked (but you knew that), and Zoe is saved (yet again!) from a paralyzing panic attack. Sadly, none of the starlets Zoe dresses make appearances, though we see Zoe and her assistants, Taylor and Brad, rushing to their houses to tell them how to dress themselves (“Don’t stack the sapphire bangles! They’ll scratch each other!”).

Speaking of Taylor, her bitterness has reached a critical mass this season, since she hasn’t received the promotion Zoe promised her. Taylor lets the world know — with merely glares, hair flicks, and her manner of walking — that she hates her job. She’s Bravo’s best diva, and in a way, we love her for it. She knows that Zoe can’t go on without her, so Taylor is free to finely and loudly hone her bitchitude before the world. Yet at the end of the day, we want to brush her hair; tell her, “Everything will be okay — they’re only clothes!”; and share a handle of vodka with her.

Having realized he’s not going anywhere, Taylor has finally befriended Brad, who might be the only person on this show who doesn’t look at fashion as a life, death, or fruit situation. He has a sense of humor about fashion and the job at hand, which is, let’s not forget, picking out clothes for people. Also in the second episode, he and his friend Lorenzo Martone dance at Marquee together at a Fashion Week party, which is one of the most delightfully awkward things we’d seen on television in a while. Well, next to Zoe lamenting the recession in the first episode, which meant designers wouldn’t want to ship things if they were not sure the items would be worn. See? It all comes back to the mail. If anything, this show can teach the kids why they call it “going postal.”